The explorers, weary but jubilant, bubbling over with enthusiastic
encomiums upon the beauty, fertility, and resources of the island, and
loaded down with samples of the numerous fruits and vegetable products
which they had discovered, arrived on board the ship just as the sun was
sinking beyond the southern shoulder of the peak. Polson reported that,
upon landing, they had gone to the westward, and thence north, east, and
south, spreading themselves out in such a manner as to cover the widest
possible extent of country while still retaining touch with each other,
and had carefully examined the entire coast line of the island in search
of indications of the presence of natives, but finding none; so they had
come to the conclusion that they might safely assume the island to be
uninhabited, and therefore in that respect, as in all others, eminently
suited to their requirements. They had found two harbours, in addition
to the Basin, one--that which we had observed on the preceding evening--
toward the north-western extremity of the island, and the other--of
nearly the same area as the Basin--on the northern shore; but they
considered both these harbours to be inferior to the Basin, from the
fact that the one on the north-west coast was practically an open
roadstead, exposed to westerly winds, while the other, although pretty
well sheltered from all except north-westerly winds--which seldom blew
in that latitude--was shallow, the fringing reef entirely filling it.
They described the island as abundantly watered, having encountered and
crossed no less than twenty-seven streams and brooks during the day; and
there did not appear to be a sterile spot anywhere upon it, except just
the bald head of the peak. Wilde was of opinion that the island was
rich in minerals, traces of both iron and coal having been met with,
while outcrops of granite and a very beautiful marble, probably
exceedingly rich in lime, had also been encountered. This was the first
rough report of the explorers, given immediately upon their return to
the ship, which Wilde undertook to supplement in an address which he
proposed to deliver from the poop after supper.
Accordingly, at the conclusion of the meal, all hands, emigrants and
seamen alike, mustered in the waist and on the quarter-deck, finding
seats where they could, some of them on the rail with their feet resting
on the plank-sheer, some on the after hatch, and the rest on the deck
planks, while Polson, Tudsbery, Grace Hartley, and I disposed ourselves
upon the poop, near enough to hear all that was said; Wilde placing
himself in the centre of the fore end of the poop, where he could be
seen and heard by everybody. I am bound to admit that, as a speaker,
the ex-schoolmaster acquitted himself fairly well. His grammar was
unexceptionable, as might be reasonably expected; his choice of words
admirable, and his mode of expressing himself easy, yet precise; while
he seemed to have the gift of arranging the points of his subject
symmetrically, and in such a manner as instantly to catch and hold the
attention of his hearers. He began by recounting in detail the history
of the day's doings, describing the route taken, the nature of the
country passed over, and the various products met with. Some of his
descriptive passages dealing with the beauties of the scenery--the
loveliness of the wooded glens, each with its tiny streamlet flowing
over a rocky bed, with here and there a romantic, tree-shaded waterfall,
its jagged margin adorned with rich growths of rare and beautiful ferns;
the wide, park-like expanses of greensward dotted with magnificent
trees; the tangled brakes, gorgeous with strange and wonderful orchids
and flowering shrubs and creepers; the countless fruit-bearing trees and
shrubs loaded with luscious fruits and berries; the miles of coconut-
palms bordering the shore; the gaily-plumaged birds with their quaint
and sometimes discordant cries; the brilliant-winged butterflies--were
both picturesque and poetical. There were neither savages, ferocious
animals--or, indeed, animals of any kind--nor reptiles on the island, so
far as the explorers had been able to discover, he said; and as for the
extent of the island, it was sufficient to provide each individual of
the party, including the children, with ample subsistence for the rest
of his or her life.
Then he proceeded to sketch out--for about the thousandth time--the
principle upon which the community was to be governed. It was to be
subject to laws which were to be enacted from time to time by a council
of seven--including himself--of which he was to be president for life in
virtue of the fact that the whole scheme and idea was of his
originating, the remaining six members of council to be elected once
every three years. There were to be no distinctions of rank or class;
all were to be absolutely equal; there was to be no such thing as
private property, everything being held in common; everybody was to
labour diligently for the benefit of the entire community; and the
natural increase due to every person's labour was to be delivered into a
sort of general store, or warehouse, and apportioned out in accordance
with rules to be framed by the council. There was a great deal more
said that night to the same effect, some of the statements being
received with rapturous applause--chiefly by the lazy and ne'er-do-well
members of the party; but I could see that although all hands had in the
first instance jumped readily enough at the prospect of an easy and
luxurious life, free--as they thought--from all restraint, in a land of
eternal summer, there were those among them to whom the Socialistic
doctrine of perfect equality and all things in common was already
distinctly distasteful; and I believed that if I could but school myself
sufficiently in the exercise of that patience which is said to be a
virtue, I should hear more of that distaste, and also of other things
that might be advantageous to me in my determination to effect my escape
from a community with the aims of which I was entirely out of sympathy.
Wilde closed his discourse with the announcement that on the morrow all
hands would be permitted to go on shore, immediately after breakfast, to
view the island and sample its products for themselves, returning to the
ship at sunset, in time for supper, after which another meeting would be
held for the purpose of electing the six members of council, who would,
upon election, immediately proceed to frame laws for the good government
of the community, and also make arrangements for its settlement upon the
island. Accordingly, soon after sunrise on the following morning, the
emigrants once more made their appearance on deck in holiday attire, all
impatient for the moment to arrive when the boats should be brought to
the gangway to convey them to those green and bosky glades, which had
spread themselves so alluringly before their gaze for the preceding
forty-eight hours. So eager were they that it was only with the utmost
difficulty we were able to persuade them to go below again, until the
crew had had time to wash decks and perform the ship's toilet for the
day. My determination not to forgo this daily duty drew from Wilde an
acrimonious remonstrance; but his objections were promptly overruled by
Polson and Tudsbery, who, I now discovered, to my great satisfaction,
were, with most of the crew, disposed still to leave all matters
strictly pertaining to the ship, and her rule and governance, entirely
in my hands.
"Wilde don't know nothin' about a ship, Mr Troubridge--how should he?"
explained Polson to me; "and if he was let to have his way he might
start pullin' of her to pieces for the sake of her timber and metal."
"As likely as not he would," said I. "But you men must never permit
that, Polson; at least, not for some time to come. There are a dozen
ways in which she may yet be found eminently useful. For instance,
beautiful and altogether suitable as this island appears for your
purpose, who is to say that it does not possess some subtle peculiarity
of climate rendering it unfit for the abode of Europeans; and what sort
of condition would you be in if such should prove to be the case, and
you had no ship to which to retreat, and in which to seek another
island?"
"Very true, sir," cut in the carpenter. "I hadn't thought of that; but
there's the chance of it, all the same, now that you comes to mention
it."
As a matter of fact, however, it was not the above reason that
influenced me in the least in my desire to ensure the preservation of
the ship, for, although I had mentioned it, I did not for a moment
believe that the contingency would ever arise; but, like Grace Hartley
and Gurney, I had long since subjected Wilde's theories to careful
examination, and decided that there was nothing in them to satisfy a man
possessed of a healthy ambition to make his mark in the world; I
therefore wanted to keep open for myself a way of escape; and no better
way could possibly be afforded than by the ship.
By one bell in the forenoon watch--half-past eight--breakfast was over
and everybody was once more on deck and clustering about the gangways,
waiting for the boats to be brought alongside. This was soon done,
every boat belonging to the ship having been got into the water and
veered astern the first thing that morning. But now another delay
occurred, most vexatious to the impatient emigrants; for every one of
the boats--excepting the quarter boats, which had been kept tight by
filling them about a quarter full of water every morning--proved so
leaky, their seams having opened through long exposure to the air, that
they had quietly swamped in the interval between six o'clock and
breakfast-time. The swamping process, however, had not occupied more
than a quarter of an hour, since which time the submerged boats had been
rapidly "taking up"; therefore when, soon afterward, they were baled
out, it was found that they had already become tight enough to make the
short passage to the shore; and by ten o'clock the ship was empty, save
for Polson and two seamen who had been included in the exploring party
of the previous day, and who were now willing to remain aboard and look
after her.
I went ashore in the last boat to leave the ship; and, upon stepping
ashore, at once set my face toward the peak, with the intention of
ascending it. The nearer slopes ahead of me were thickly dotted with
people in little groups, parents and children, or friends, who were bent
upon seeing something of the island, certainly, but whose chief aim was
an enjoyable picnic. The children were already, for the most part,
busily engaged in plucking the many strange and beautiful flowers with
which the greensward was thickly dotted; while the parents, eager to
sample the various fruits which the island yielded, vainly strove to
quicken the youngsters' pace. There were a few solitary couples
straying off by themselves; and among them I presently recognised Gurney
and Grace Hartley. Wilde, acting as cicerone to a large party who were
evidently anxious to see as much as possible of the island forthwith,
was already a long way ahead.
The greensward, which came right down to the beach of coarse coral grit,
rose undulatingly at a very gentle slope until within about three-
quarters of a mile from the summit of the peak, when the slope became
considerably steeper--probably a rise of one in five--to within a couple
of hundred feet of the summit, when the slope took an angle of about
forty-five degrees. But it must not be imagined that the very gentle
slope of which I have spoken was uniform, for it was far from that; on
the contrary, I had not advanced much more than half a mile on my way
before I came to, first, a slight dip, then a rather stiff rise of a few
hundred yards to a kind of ridge, upon surmounting which I found myself
upon the edge of a wildly picturesque glen, or ravine, the steep sides
of which consisted of finely broken ground interspersed with outcrops of
lichen--stained rock and thickly overgrown with a tangle of bushes and
flowering shrubs, with here and there a few graceful saplings or a clump
of noble shade trees entwined with strange-looking and beautiful
orchids. The cool, refreshing, musical sound of running water came up
from the depths of the glen, although the stream itself was not visible
from where I stood, while the subdued roar of a distant waterfall
strongly tempted me to swerve from my path and follow the upward course
of the glen. I surrendered myself to the temptation, rather erroneously
arguing that every foot of rise must necessarily take me so much nearer
the summit of the peak, whereas I eventually found that I had diverged
almost at right angles to my proper course. But I was richly rewarded
for my labour and loss of time, for at the end of a somewhat arduous
climb of about twenty minutes I found myself gazing at as romantic and
beautiful a bit of scenery as I had ever beheld.
I was in a deep hollow between two hills, the bottom of the hollow
forming a rocky basin into which poured the water of a small stream,
some ten feet in width, as it tumbled over a broad, rocky ledge some
sixty feet above, and came foaming, lace-like, down the moss-grown face
of the precipice. The pool, or basin, into which the water fell was
some thirty feet in diameter, and apparently about four feet deep, the
pebbly bottom showing with startling distinctness through the crystal-
clear water. The steep sides of the hollow were grass-grown, with
great, rough outcrops of granite rock showing here and there, out of the
interstices of which sprang a great variety of beautiful ferns, and were
overhung by a magnificent tangle of beautiful trees and bushes growing
so thickly together as completely to exclude the sun's rays, bathing the
whole scene in a soft, cool, delicious green twilight.
The water looked so clear, so cool, so altogether tempting, that I
decided there and then to treat myself to the luxury of a freshwater
bath; I accordingly stripped and sprang in, fully expecting to touch
bottom. But, to my astonishment, the pool proved to be fully ten feet
deep; moreover the water was icy cold, or appeared to be so in
comparison with the tropical heat of the air; I therefore scrambled out
as quickly as possible, and, dressing, resumed my ramble, greatly
refreshed by my dip.
The hot air was heavy with the smell of wet earth, the spray of the
waterfall, the rank vegetation that flourished riotously along the
margins of the brook, and the mingled perfumes of a thousand varieties
of strange and gorgeously tinted flowers, as I laboriously climbed the
steep side of the ravine, after crossing the brook, on my way to the
more open country beyond. But this soon changed upon my emerging from
the ravine, giving place to the more healthful and invigorating scent of
the salt sea breeze that came sweeping over the island and roared among
the lofty branches of the trees, among the trunks of which I now wound
my upward way.
I had now reached a park-like stretch of country, the surface of which
was clad with long, rich, luxuriant grass, thickly dotted with clumps of
splendid trees, many of which were of immense height and girth,
promising a rich yield of valuable timber, while others blazed with
vivid scarlet flowers instead of leaves. These open park-like expanses
of country, however, were of comparatively limited extent, the trees for
the most part growing closely together, while the space between their
trunks was choked with thick undergrowth, consisting of shrubs, bushes,
and long, tough, flowering creepers, so densely and inextricably
intermingled that it was sometimes impossible to force a way through it,
and long detours became necessary in order to make any progress. But
there were other spots, again, which conveyed the idea of natural
gardens, for in them little else than fruit-bearing trees were to be
found, among which I quickly recognised the banana, the plantain, the
peach, the orange, the lime, the custard apple, the granadilla, to say
nothing of many other kinds to which I was a stranger; while raspberries
and strawberries were to be found almost everywhere. And a little later
on in my walk I came here and there upon patches of melon plants in all
stages, from that in which the blossom was just opening to that of the
ripe and perfect fruit. A particularly rich and luscious-flavoured
purple grape also appeared to be exceedingly abundant. Needless to say,
I sampled these various fruits as freely as discretion permitted, while
I filled my pockets with others to serve as dessert to my dinner. This
meal I discussed, luxuriously reclining upon a thick bed of soft moss
surrounding a spring of deliriously cold fresh water, that came bubbling
up out of the earth in the shade of a thick grove of aromatic pines
which constituted the last belt of timber before the bare soil
surrounding the summit was reached.
Finally, after I had rested long enough to recover in a measure from the
fatigue of my unwonted exertions, I left the scented shadow of the pine
grove and, emerging into the blistering sunshine, manfully set myself to
climb the last three hundred feet of steep, bare ascent that separated
me from the highest point of the island.
The reason for the absolute bareness of the cone became apparent the
instant that I stepped out of the shadow of the pines, for I immediately
plunged ankle-deep in a loose deposit of ashes and pumice-stone that
yielded to my tread and slid away under me to such an extent as to make
progress almost impossible. But I was determined not to be beaten; and
at length, after a full hour's violent exertion, I found myself,
breathless and with my clothing saturated with perspiration, standing,
as I had expected, on the lip of the crater of an extinct volcano. The
crater was almost mathematically circular in shape, of about a quarter
of a mile in internal diameter, and fully five hundred feet deep; the
sides of the cup were practically vertical, and everywhere so smooth
that I could nowhere discover a spot where a descent into the crater
would have been possible, even had I desired to go down into it. But I
had no such inclination; for I could see all that I wished from the
summit, the internal walls being absolutely bare, while the bottom was
simply a lake of stagnant water, apparently not more than a few inches
deep.
But if the interior of the crater offered little or nothing to attract
the eye, it was far otherwise when I directed my gaze outward. The
whole of the island, except the comparatively small strip that was
hidden from me by the spreading rim of the crater, lay stretched out
beneath me like a map, beautifully executed in relief and tinted by the
hand of a master. Its groves, its brakes, its broad park-like expanses,
its rocky glens, its picturesque ravines, its sparkling rivulets, its
deeply indented coast line, its dazzlingly white beaches, the outline of
its fringing reef, ay, and the long thin line of its barrier reef, with
its spouting, leaping wall of snowy spray, reaching from north to south,
and spreading far into the deep blue of the ocean to the eastward, were
visible through that clear air with startling distinctness. Why, I
could even detect the evanescent whiteness of the breaking surges far
out beyond the barrier reef, where their crests were whipped into foam
by the scourging of the fiery breeze. I considered that I commanded a
horizon of nearly a hundred and twenty miles in diameter, yet throughout
that wide stretch of ocean there was nothing visible save the island, no
ship save the _Mercury_, floating like a tiny toy upon the placid,
landlocked surface of the Basin. I keenly searched the horizon in every
direction for signs of other land, but nowhere could I detect even the
loom of it. We were absolutely alone here in our lovely island Eden;
and there was no land in any direction near enough to cause us the
slightest uneasiness as to incursions of hostile savages.
Two full hours, by my watch, did I spend upon the summit of the crater,
slowly sauntering round its rim, feasting my eyes upon the surpassing
beauties of the scene beneath and around me, and also sketching a rough
map of the island for future use. Then, sated with enjoyment, and more
than half-reconciled to the possibility that I might be compelled to
spend the remainder of my life amid such glorious surroundings, I set
about to effect my descent and return to the ship, following a route
which I had mentally mapped out, as it seemed to promise easier going
than the one by which I had ascended. Taking my time, choosing my
ground, and winding hither and thither to avoid obstacles, I arrived at
the beach just in good time to go off aboard with the last boatload of
holiday makers, all of whom, though hot and weary with their long day's
ramble, were full of enthusiasm at the prospect of making their homes on
so lovely and fertile a spot and in such a perfect climate.
At eight o'clock that night Wilde ascended the poop and, assuming the
direction of affairs quite as a matter of course, gave orders for all
hands to assemble in the waist in order that the business of electing
the members of council--who, in conjunction with himself, were to frame
the laws and order the affairs of the community--might be proceeded
with. He opened the proceedings by explaining in detail precisely what
the duties of the council were to be, incidentally mentioning the fact
that, in consideration of the onerous and responsible character of those
duties, the members would be absolved from the performance of any and
every other kind of work. He dwelt at some length upon the
qualifications which he considered indispensable for the efficient
discharge of the duties of a member of council, enumerating, among
others, wisdom, discretion, organising ability, and the faculty of
anticipating and providing for the future needs of the community; and
then himself proceeded to propose the six persons whom he considered
best fitted to fill the office, all of them being chosen from among the
emigrants!
At this stage of the proceedings Gurney promptly rose and intervened.
He said that he fully agreed with the chairman both as to the necessity
for extreme care in the choice of persons to fill positions of such
heavy responsibility, and also as to the qualifications required in the
holders of such positions. But, while he had nothing to say against the
persons proposed by the chairman, he was of opinion that there was one
person in the ship who, despite his extreme youth, was at least as fully
qualified as any other individual among them to fill satisfactorily the
position of a member of council, and who, moreover, had fully earned the
distinction by piloting them to this beautiful island. He presumed that
he need not add that he referred to young Mr Troubridge, to whose
exceptional skill as a seaman and a navigator they all owed so much!
These remarks were greeted with so much enthusiasm that it was with the
utmost difficulty I succeeded in making it understood--to Wilde's
manifest relief--that for certain good and sufficient reasons I must
decline to accept the proffered office. But, I continued, it seemed to
me not only a mistake but distinctly invidious that the seamen should be
entirely excluded from the governing body; and I considered that, in
common fairness to them, two at least of their number--to be chosen by
themselves--ought to be included.
This proposal also was loudly applauded; and, after a great deal of
rather heated discussion, Polson and Gurney, as representative of the
officers and crew of the ship, were duly elected members of council; the
other four being William Fell, once a solicitor's clerk; Henry Burgess,
lately a colliery agent; John Monroe, formerly a builder; and Samuel
Hilary, late agricultural labourer. These four last, as may be readily
understood, owed their election not so much to their superior
qualifications as to the fact that they were red-hot Socialists, full of
plans to enable everybody to enjoy a maximum amount of comfort at the
cost of a minimum of labour; and they proved the sincerity of their
doctrine by securing their own election to posts which freed them from
the necessity to labour for themselves.